Nile perch demand in the Netherlands: are exports from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda source-differentiated?

This study examined Nile perch demand in the Netherlands and assessed the importance of country of origin as a determining factor. Import demand equations were estimated using the absolute price version of the Rotterdam model where Nile perch fillets were differentiated by product form (chilled and frozen) and by source country (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda). The Armington framework (source-differentiation) is often used when estimating import demand for a similar product from different sources; however, the results of this study indicated that country of origin is not a factor in the Netherlands when importing Nile perch. Results showed that the responsiveness of importers to price changes was the same regardless to the supplying country. Likelihood ratio tests fail to reject the hypothesis that the own-price and cross-price demand estimates were equal across the three exporting countries. It was also shown that the origin-specific expenditure and own-price elasticities were not significantly different across the three exporting countries.